HOW IT WORKS

“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader, he will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.” – Unknown

Our dogs are destined for a very important role – to help a person with disabilities become more independent, or for a family with a child with autism to no longer feel socially isolated. We customize our dogs to your disability and depending on that requirement we can usually place a dog/puppy with you within a couple of months of the paperwork being completed.

Our puppies or adults are very carefully chosen and they go through a thorough socialization program with their new families to help them become well adjusted. We place our dogs with their selected family or person right from the start. We believe that this initial bonding will help form a better relationship.

Our trainers work individually and as a group with each of our dogs and their new family and handler, teaching them both together, helping imprint that bond which will enable each to build confidence and learn the necessary skills.

For a Service Dog to qualify under the American’s with Disabilities Act, the dog has to perform specific tasks that will help their handler with their everyday tasks. It is not a companion dog.

We are not sponsored by any organization and there are fees associated with our training program – We will assist with sponsorships and fundraising but do require a small down payment from the family or individual and this is based on a case by case evaluation.

We also have a couple of hybrid programs for people who cannot come to our school for training. In the first program a puppy/dog is trained by one of our trainers for the majority of the time with scheduled meetings between the handler and the puppy/dog. The handler will come and visit 6 – 12 times for a couple of days each visit and work with the puppy/dog during that time. We then do long visits and when ready the transition is made easier as the handler and dog already have a good match/bond together.

The second program consists of us providing a fully trained service dog but with a commitment by the handler to visit at least 3 – 4 times during the training period to work with the dog and start a relationship together.

We usually place our puppies/dogs with you as soon as possible so that the bond starts forming with you and not the trainer. But we will place only when the dog and handler are ready. We train the dog/puppy and handler together over the next 12 – 18 months with group and private lessons at our school in Marietta and also at your home or other locations such as the airport, mall, restaurants and grocery stores. We are with you for the life of the Service dog.

We also train therapy dogs either as those that have the ability to visit nursing homes and hospitals or those that are AAAT qualified to help physical and occupational therapists with a patient’s recovery. These dogs are used to help anyone suffering from a stroke, physical injury, or trauma. AAAT (animal-assisted activity therapy) dogs and their volunteer handler team up with trained therapists to use agility equipment and recreational therapy techniques. The end result encourages a patient to regain mobility, strength, range of motion, balance and confidence. There are fees associated with our training program from plus equipment depending on the therapy levels you wish to achieve. We also train Facility dogs for work in the court room or legal office as an example.

All dogs and handlers go through basic, intermediate and advanced obedience, including agility then obtain the AKC Puppy Star (if under a year), obtain Certificates for each level of achievement, Canine Good Citizen and the final Service Dog Certification. We also train for Assistance, Therapy and Companion Puppies / Dogs. We incorporate fitness training to help with the maintaining of core structure and health for the service dog.

If you wish to apply for our program please complete the application which can be found close to the top of this page. There is a $25 application fee for us to review your application. Once we receive all your information we can meet with you and discuss your application in detail.

We also provide fully trained service and therapy dogs. We will also train your own dog providing they pass the evaluation and personality tests.

We follow the guide lines and requirements for service dog/ guide dog training that have been established by Guide Dogs for The Blind and Assistance Dogs International.